Mansa is a woman from Sinjar who fled her home when ISIS attacked in August 2014. She and her family ran away but in the chaos that followed, she and two of her children became separated from her husband and their six other children on Mount Sinjar. Thankfully she and her family survived the desperate conditions while stranded on the mountain for eight days. She was later reunited with her husband and other children, and the family now lives together in Mamilyan Camp.

Mansa says that when she first arrived in the camp, she found life very difficult. She was always worried and spent a lot of time thinking about what she and others around her had lost. Having nothing to do and nowhere to go to distract her from her thoughts only made things worse.

She was very happy when SEED Center began offering activities for women, men, and children. She started coming to baking classes and made friends with other women in the class, and then joined SEED’s agriculture project for women where she was able to grow and take home fresh vegetables.

However, one of her biggest worries was not being able to provide for her family. When she heard about SEED’s knitting classes she was very excited. She comes to knitting class every day along with her teenage daughter, and has learned lots of new designs for women’s shawls and children’s hats, mittens, and gloves. She says, “I am very thankful that I have the chance to sell my knitting to make money for my family and to make clothes that will help keep my children warm during winter”.